UPDATE: Woman dies after falling from city parking garage

Verdell Nash and Tavisha Franklin react to the sight of a body being covered Friday after the body was noticed on an awning at the new parking garage at Fifth and Walnut streets around 4:49 p.m.¦Kristen Zeis

COLUMBIA — Pockets of crowds congregated outside the new city parking garage at the corner of Fifth and Walnut streets Friday afternoon as emergency workers responded to reports that a woman fell to her death on the canopy of the garage.

Medical examiners finish covering the body of an unidentified female on an overhang of the new parking garage at Fifth and Walnut streets. Emergency responders received a call at 4:49 p.m. notifying them of the body.

Police received a call at 4:49 p.m. from a witness who saw the woman suspended from the overhang of the parking garage, said Sgt. Jill Wieneke of the Columbia Police Department. Officers arrived just after 4:52 p.m.

A white, then yellow, sheet was placed over the woman's body, but her legs and feet, in blue jeans and black shoes, could still be seen dangling over the side of the canopy.

An official appeared to be dusting for fingerprints on the black railing at the top of the parking garage.

The death was not confirmed as a suicide. Officers will examine security videos for signs of foul play and determine which level of the parking garage she fell from, Wieneke said.